


swallow your tail (again & again)

by studydeku



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, カテキョ! - 萌木ゆう | Katekyo! | Private Teacher! - Moegi Yuu
Genre: BAMF Skull (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Bisexual Remus Lupin, Canonical Character Death, Gay Regulus Black, Immortal Skull (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), M/M, Nymphadora Tonks Dies, Raising Teddy Lupin, Regulus Black Deserves Better, Regulus Black Lives, Regulus Black is Skull (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Remus Lupin Lives, Swearing, no but really regulus is skull MAKES sense okay it makes SO MUCH SENSE (to me), no wolfstar in this one sorry :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27985386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/studydeku/pseuds/studydeku
Summary: remus runs into an old friend.‘runs into’ is here defined as ‘comes to meet through mistaken kidnapping.’‘old friend’ is here defined as ‘missing presumed dead frenemy’.swallow your tail (again and again)
Relationships: Regulus Black/Remus Lupin, Remus Lupin & Harry Potter, Remus Lupin & Teddy Lupin, Teddy Lupin & Harry Potter
Kudos: 124





	swallow your tail (again & again)

Remus doesn’t quite know how he’s gotten himself into such a mess. 

Harry had asked him to venture out to the muggle markets to pick up some fresh tomatoes for the napoleon pizza he was teaching Teddy to make. As a somewhat internationally recognised wizarding celebrity, it wasn't exactly wise to venture into Italian magical territory anyway, what with them not technically having legally registered their little holiday through the proper channels. Well, the Italian ' dipartimento per la magia' wasn't well known for tight lips, and if word spread to the tabloids that Harry Potter, his godson's father and said godson were taking a trip, there'd be no end to the stalking, pointing and staring.

And Harry deserved some time off, after all. As Head Auror, his holiday time was very small indeed, and there was always the chance that he’d be called upon to deal with some emergency or other without warning. He often complained that the job prevented him from spending as much time with his family as he’d like, and Remus wasn't going to let that continue for much longer. 

Southern Italy’s warm climate suited the three of them quite well, and it was good for Teddy to spend time in the company of people with different features so that his Metamorphmagus abilities developed as widely as possible. It was something Tonks had always complained of, not having enough exposure to other cultures and appearances young enough - although being infrequently hunted by whoever the House of Black had decided to hire to deal with the 'tainted' Andromeda and her 'mudblood family' did make it a little harder to go on family trips. 

After a poor attempt at haggling in broken Italian (translation spells might have been useful, but they left most people with a killer headache), Remus had strolled back, holding a paper bag full of tomatoes. Turning into the alleyway, he'd found himself trapped on both sides by some muggle thugs. He couldn’t draw his wand without alerting the authorities, which would no doubt eventually lead to an increase in Harry’s workload, and so, currently, he found himself sitting in the back of a van surrounded by what were assuredly criminals donned in purple leather, in what seemed to be some kind of human trafficking operation. There were three opposite him, all with dyed hair of varying colours, and two beside him whose dark hair and piercings seemed an accurate summary of his situation. His hands were tied tightly, and his wand, stuffed into his jean pocket, dug into his thigh uncomfortably. 

The van came to a sharp halt, and his head was thrown backwards, colliding with the metal panel behind him. The world span, and Remus felt as if he'd been knocked off a broom 30 metres in the air and was hurtling towards the ground at an astonishing speed. When he was able to open his eyes again he could see a face, painted white with purple eyeshadow, far too close to his. When his vision could focus a little more he saw the person had a shock of pink hair and was tapping on a tiny screen frustratedly. Remus was not particularly intimate with mobile phones, or in fact most modern muggle technology, on account of the wild and unpredictable reactions electrical signals could have with certain spells, or at times the presence of magic itself, but Harry had gone to great lengths to instill at the very least a basic understanding of phone usage, and he was fairly sure it wasn't necessary to press so hard on the screen.

“Merda.... questo stronzo è sulla lista.” The one in front of him grunted, but his head was pounding and the little Italian he knew was proving very ineffective. The man to Remus' left leaned over, his breath surprisingly minty for a gothic kidnapper, and peered at the phone. "Fanculo! Lascialo andare." He bit out. Fanculo was actually a large part of Harry's Italian vocabulary, so he had a good idea of what that meant at least, but it didn't exactly bode well for him. He thought he'd be fine really, but that sudden stop would make it dangerous if he attempted to apparate wandlessly, and wiggling his fingers, he could only just reach his hips, and even then it easily attracted the attention of the guy to the right of him. The pink haired person in front of him scowled, something flashing on the screen, and cast a considering look at Remus. Then they grabbed his head, one hand on each side, and yanked it forward, hands seeming to flash a light green just for a fraction of a second, and they slammed it back into the metal wall. His vision started to fade, and he thought: 'fanculo indeed.' 

He awoke strapped to an armchair, head sore but no longer throbbing. At a gentle cough, he opened his eyes to an ornate ceiling. Tilting his head, he saw he was in a luxurious suite, surely a hotel, and decidedly nothing like the Airbnb he was renting with Harry and Teddy. There was another person dressed in purple in the chair opposite, watching him carefully. There was something familiar about the way he tilted his head in interest, humming quietly, although Remus couldn't quite work out what it was. 

His mouth was so dry. He tried to estimate how long it had been since the market - Harry would definitely come looking if he wasn't back by morning, maybe sooner than that, but it couldn't have been more than a few hours, surely.

The man in front of him clicks his tongue, bringing Remus' attention back to him. "There seems to have been a misunderstanding, Remus.” He said smoothly, and before even the realisation that there shouldn't be any way for them to know his name, he froze. The tone. His posture. The slant of his eyes. There was something so very Slytherin about the way he was sitting, something graceful and predatory and pureblood in his posture. Remus was suddenly very aware that the pressure on his leg is gone.

His wand had been taken.

“I would like to offer an apology, Remus. Magicals don’t often mix with our sort, so my friends weren't to know. But if I were to let you go now, you wouldn't rest until you uncovered our secrets, would you?" He didn't wait for a reply. "It could all get very... messy.”

Remus frowned to himself. “I see.” He said, and privately he wondered who it was that the man reminded him of. It was right there, if only he could look a little closer. “What’s your name?”

The man paused, clearly surprised. “I am known within my circle as Skull.” His smile widened. “Skull de Mort.”

Remus bit his lip, thinking, and then considered. “And within Magical circles?”

The man looked him dead in the eyes, some unrecognisable emotion passing through them. “I’m hurt, really. You can’t recognise me, Remus?”

Remus thought for a moment. His face was so aristocratic, so similar to Sirius’, honestly, but Sirius wasn't -

“Oh.” He said, very quietly. He was filled with memories of hot chocolate in the kitchens late at night, soft sobs into his shoulder, and most of all, with shame.

“You might know me as Regulus Black.”

**Author's Note:**

> i havent written in forever so of course when i do its at 2.30 am :•)


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